Exploited Labor: News & Updates

Violent land conflicts have persisted in the Bajo Aguán Valley in the coastal department of Colón for the past 50 years. In the 1970s, many campesinos benefited from the government’s agrarian reform. But in their zeal to expand monoculture plantations for cash crops, large agro-industrial companies like Dinant have encroached on campesino farmland. When campesino organizations began “recuperating” (recovering) their rightful lands, the companies retaliated with violence, often with the assistance of state security forces and sometimes the backing of the courts (through the issuing of illegal eviction orders).

In 2022, President Castro signed an agreement to establish a commission to investigate and resolve land conflicts in the Bajo Aguán. That commitment has not been fully implemented. In the meantime, campesinos are shot and killed while driving to work or working their fields.

Since December 24, 2024, the armed criminal group known as Los Cachos has illegally occupied farmland legally titled to the Camarones Cooperative, creating a humanitarian emergency by forcibly displacing approximately 150 families. Despite a judge’s order for the eviction of Los Cachos, Honduran authorities have twice deferred its execution. Meanwhile, the armed group continues to terrorize nearby cooperatives, including El Chile and El Tranvío, threatening further displacement and violence.

We urge the government to enforce without further delay the judicial eviction order against the criminal group Los Cachos and ensure the safe return of the Camarones Cooperative families to their rightful land.

SINALTRAINAL (the national food and beverage workers union) has been campaigning for fairer conditions and an end to discriminatory practices towards its members at Nestlé’s four plants in Colombia. Nestle has retaliated, illegally firing unionized workers.

Paula Andrea Rojas Franco, Daniela Salazar Ospina, and Alicia Cardiles Fontalvo are all active in the Women and Diverstiy Caucus of SINALTRAINAL. Paula Rojas and Daniela Salazar are involved in a labor dispute at the Nestlé plant in Dosquebradas. Alicia Cardiles has led efforts to denounce gender-based abuses and human rights violations at Seatech International Inc. (producer of Van Camps tuna) in Cartagena.

In July, all three (on separate occasions) were followed and video recorded by unknown individuals on motorcycles. The surveillance and intimidation targeting these union leaders is suspicious. These incidents are occurring in the context of a broader pattern of violence aimed at SINALTRAINAL. In April, the vice president of a local branch, was shot to death in a public establishment in Valledupar.

We urge the government of Colombia to mplement protection measures for these three union leaders, in strict accordance with their wishes and in consultation with SINALTRAINAL.

Violent land conflicts have persisted in the Bajo Aguán Valley in the coastal department of Colón for the past 50 years. In the 1970s, many campesinos benefited from the government’s agrarian reform. But in their zeal to expand monoculture plantations for cash crops, large agro-industrial companies like Dinant have encroached on campesino farm land. When campesino organizations began “recuperating” (recovering) their rightful lands, the companies retaliated with violence, often with the assistance of state security forces and sometimes the backing of the courts (that issue illegal eviction notices).

In 2022, President Castro signed an agreement to establish a commission to investigate and resolve land conflicts in the Bajo Aguán. That has not been fully implemented. In the meantime, campesinos are shot and killed while driving to work or working their fields.

We call to mind the many campesinos killed this year, including:

JAN 2: Arnulfo Díaz (member of Cooperativa Brisas del Aguán), forced off the road and shot by armed actors at the Río San Pedro

FEB 2: José Luis Hernández Lobo and Suyapa Guillén (active members of the Empresa Campesina Gregorio Chávez), shot when their vehicle was intercepted by armed actors in Rigores

MAY 31: Josué Esaú Aguilar Cárcamo, 22-year-old son of Guadalupe Cárcamo (active member of Empresa Campesina Gregorio Chávez), shot in Rigores while riding his motorcycle home from school

JUL 17: Carlos Antonio Rivas Canales (member of Empresa Campesina Gregorio Chávez) and his father Ramón Rivas Baquedano (member of Empresa Asociativa Campesina de Producción La Aurora), ambushed by heavily armed men while on their way to work

JUL 26: Héctor Otoniel Hernández Castro (member of Empresa Campesina Gregorio Chávez and brother of Wendy Castro, the sub-coordinator of Plataforma Agraria), shot armed men while working in the fields in Cuyamel, Trujillo.

AUG 1: Abel Monroy (father-in-law of an active member of Cooperativa El Chile who had previously been threatened), shot while driving to work in Bonito Oriental

We urge the government to take immediate action to prevent further unnecessary deaths.

El Tumbador, a farm in the campesino community of Guadalupe Carney, Trujillo, Colón Department, has long been a central area of dispute between campesinos and the palm oil giant Dinant corporation; the farming families have been victims of violence for many years. Douglas Alexander Pereira was likely targeted for his leadership and security role, placing him in direct opposition to the control over the farm land in the Bajo Aguán Valley that Dinant hopes to maintain.  He was shot and killed on May 13 by two armed men while carrying out his security duties for the cooperative’s small convenience store. Community members persist in their demands for justice and accountability in their friend’s assassination.

We are urging that authorities in the Honduran government: 

(1) conduct a thorough and transparent investigation to discover the material and intellectual authors of the assassination of Douglas Alexander Pereira, publish the results, and bring them to justice

(2) work with campesino organizations in the Bajo Aguán Valley to devise and implement a protection mechanism for the campesino families and leaders who face extreme violence for defending land promised to them under the Agrarian Reform 

(3) conduct a complete and unbiased investigation into the criminal ties between agroindustrial companies (like Dinant) and illegally armed groups 

The Bukele Administration continues to use the penal system to persecute those who peacefully exercise their right to free expression and protest.

The 300 families of El Bosque Cooperative (Santa Tecla, La Libertad Department) understandably organized to protest an eviction order that would force them off land that is rich with fertility and water resources, which they have lived on for years. The families rely on these resources for agriculture and have cultivated a strong community with a school to raise their children.

When they organized a protest in May in the neighbourhood of President Bukele, the government pushed back. Alejandro Henríquez (a lawyer and environmental defender) and José Ángel Pérez (an evangelical pastor, day laborer, and president of the El Bosque Cooperative) were charged with public disorder and resistance. A judge ordered them to six months pre-trial detention. They sit in overcrowded prisons, at risk of mistreatment and illness.

We are urging that authorities in El Salvador: (1) release from pretrial detention Alejandro Henríquez and José Ángel Pérez; (2) drop all false criminal charges against Alejandro Henríquez and José Ángel Pérez; (3) if the charges stand, hold transparent and fair trials for the five community leaders arrested from El Bosque Cooperative; and (4) stop misusing the penal system to persecute those peacefully exercising their rights.